Coach Scott Linehan December 13

Head Coach Scott Linehan

December 13, 2007

(Opening Remarks)

“Marc (Bulger) threw well today and looked good. Things look real positive for Sunday. Gus (Frerotte) threw some too. He worked some with the first unit some, but he did all the scout team work. Our quarterback situation looks a little more favorable this week than it did last week.”

(On if QB Gus Frerotte will be active on Sunday)

“No question. I believe Gus is good to go.”

(On how many snaps QB Marc Bulger took in practice)
“Marc took about that (90 percent of the snaps). We worked a couple at the end of each team period with Gus (Frerotte). With Gus we’re just being safe – being smart about it.”

(On how CB Fakhir Brown’s suspension affecting him)

“The suspension counts. That was a setback for him, but he’s come back and played well. He had two interceptions in his first game back. That was a big return. Since then he has been playing very good football for us. Unfortunately, his four missed starts count in the whole total, even though it wasn’t an injury. For us to build on where we are now we have to have zero of those kinds of setbacks.”

(On if QB Marc Bulger had to have another test today)

“There are no more tests. The tests are over. The tests now are 100 percent on doctors clearing him and him saying he’s 100 percent.”

(On why QB Gus Frerotte couldn’t play last week)

“It was mainly pain. I don’t know if you would generally shoot that up or something for a game to play, if you had to play in emergency. I don’t know how he would have felt had he played. We made a decision that he would be emergency only a week ago. He threw with pretty much pain-free on Monday. He threw a little bit more yesterday and today, threw pretty much all practice. He’ll probably be sore tonight, but he didn’t seem to have any problem.”

(On talking to players about being careful and aware of the surroundings)

“I talk to them like I have the same discussion with my three sons. There is nothing good that happens when you start getting in these situations. His is a little bit different. We talk a little bit more about these guys being out at night. You can’t tell people how to live their lives, they’re all grown men. It’s concerning to me that there are acts of violence happening. It probably happened over time and years ago, but it seems like a lot more is happening to a lot of these high-profile athletes. People know who they are. They are going to show people how tough they are. I think they (the players) are aware of it. They have to be aware that even though they’re trying to stay out of trouble, they can find trouble by being there. It’d different from the home invasion. That can happen to any one of us. It’s tough to say that you’re not going to have something like that happen to you. You hope and pray that most people are taking the (measures) to stay away from it.”

(On if the players use playing spoiler as motivation)

“This is our 14th game and we’re playing a very good football team that we beat last year. It’s the same team in a lot of ways. There are a couple of new players on offense, the running back being one of them. We want to go out and establish that. We’re playing for this season. We’re playing for a lot of things. We want to establish ourselves in the NFC and show people that we can not only play well against a team like Green Bay or play as well as Green Bay, but also beat them. That’s our goal.”

(On if he would ever leave a team abruptly if the season was bad)

“If you preach finishing what you start no matter what you do, you have to follow up with that. That would be my method. I would have to prove that over time. I can’t speak for what happened with Bob (Petrino) because these things come up. He had to make a decision that he felt was best for him. For myself and for our football team, the easiest time to walk away is when things are done. That’s when you have to step up and really be a stand-up person. I’m talking about our players, assistant coaches and people who work for the Rams. There are going to be better times down the road. Something good had to happen. Some kind of unifying factor had to happen with Coach Vermeil and the ’98 team. They won nine games in two seasons. The next year they were in the Super Bowl and won it. You stick with things. You go through tough times, good things are ahead.”

Re: Coach Scott Linehan December 13

Keep in mind that we had Lenny Walls as a starting corner. Anyone replacing him would improve the overall stats. Although I do think that Brown is probably our best corner. Hopefully he doesn't have any more drug issues or he'll have killed his career.